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OMPLIMENTARY BANQUET GIVEN TO 
CARL EWALD GRUNSKY, BY THE 
CITIZENS OF SAN FRANCISCO* 



March 15, 1904. 



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COMPLIMENTARY BANQUET 



GIVEN TO 



Carl E^^ald GtRTJNsky 

By the Citizens of San Francisco 
on the eve of his departure to 
assume the duties of « « « « « • 

ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSIONER 

PURSUANT TO APPOINTMENT BY THE 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 



Palace Hotel : March. 15, 1904. 



SAN FRANCISCO: 

CUBERY A!^D COMPANY, BoOK AND JOB PrINTEBS, NO. 587 MISSION STBEET 

1904 










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(Ir 



is- 



Cist of 6ue$t$. 



R. Arias 

N. Ahrens 
L. Arnstein 
Edward F. Adams. 
Edward L. Baldwin 
A. S. Baldwin 
Hermann Barth 
J. Birmingham 
Edward Brandenstein 
H. Brunner 
C). N. Beal 
J. H. Belser 
W. I. Brobeck 
W. J. Bartnett 
C. A. Brans 
W. Baergermeister 
William Blackwell 
Samnel Braunhart 
Henry Brune 
J. Otis Barrage 
C. S. Benedict 
H. A. Brigham 
J- B. Bocarde 
E E. Bergin 
J. H. Bloom 
Nathan L. Bell 
M. E. Bertheau 
Lewis F. Byingtoa 
J. Brandenstein 
J. 8. Bannell 
Hagh C. Banks 
Frank C. Birch 
B Broemmel 
Arthar R. Brigjgs 
Albert M. Bender 
William H, Beatty 
H. Bendel 
Carl Bergfried 
Dr. R. W. Baum 
J. D. Clark 
A. T. Corbus 
J. B. Cowden 
T. J. Crowley 
A. E. Chandler 
J. A Cooper 
Peter J. Cartis 
Lonis O. Cannon 
Foster P. Cole 
Dr. C. B. (.'arrier 
N. P. Chipman 
E L. (fatten 
Jojin Connor 
Maaricq (^asey 
P. J. Cosgrave 
8. H. Daniels 
Dr. P. de Vecchi 



W. 8. Dnncombe 
F. W. Dohrmann 
William J. Datton 
W- E. Dennison 
George D. Dornin 
L. Diamant 
J. H. Dockweiler 
Morris K. Davis 
George W. Dickie 
Hobert McF. Doble 
Charles J. Deeriag 
Harry 8. Dutton 
J. J. Dowling 
Hagh Donegan 
H. Daseking 
Dr. Draper 
8. Dncas 
James 8. Dickie 
Dr. Washington Dodge 
James Denman 

E. A. Denicke 
George E. Dow 
William Donald 
H. Danker 

H. Epstein 

Dr. C. N. Ellinwood 

George C. Edwards 

Henry Eickhoflf 

H. T. Eckert 

J. H. Enkele 

George Fredericks 

Tirey L. Ford 

Harry Edward Frennd 

William Fahrenkrug 

James J. Flinn 

L. M. Fletcher 

M. J. Fontana 

Nathan H. Frank 

P. Freygang 

Louis Palkenau 

L H. Foote 

R. Frisselle 

Charles W. Fay 

8. B. Goldberg 

H. D. Gates 

Gustav Gntsch 

F. A. Gardner 
Thomas F. Graham 
H. M. Goldberg 
Kdmand Godchaux 
C. E. Gransky 
.James M. Goewey 
J. C. Groh 

•John H. Grady 
John B. Gartland 
A. P. Giannini 



Charles Goecker 
William H. Hammer 
W. H. Healy 
Joseph Hutchinson 
Loren E. Hnnt 
Charles H. Ham 
H. J. Hill 
Rudolph Herold Jr. 

C. H. Hilbert 
Marshal Hale 
John Hoey 

James 8. Hutchinson 
Lewis A. Hicks 
W. L. Holman 
F. G. Hesse 
Judge F. W. Henshaw 
F. Hagemann Jr. 
R. B. Hale 
George W. Hooper 
R. E. Houghton 

D. ' . Henny 
L. Heynemann 
F. C. Herrmann 
Frederick Hess 
William Hermann 
8. C. Irving 

E. B. Jennings 
Alphonse Judis 
W. J, Johnston 
L. Jockers 
Byron Jackson 
Rufua P. Jennings 
Edwin C. Johnston 
H. Joost 

8. P. Johnston 
C. Jantzen 
Dr. Jellinek 
Professor C. N. Keller 
Edward Kalisher 

F. A. Koetitz 
Dr. H. KugeJpr 
8heldon G. Kellogg 
Dr. H. H. Kreutzmann 
W. Chester Keogh 
Fred J. Koster 
Richard Keatinge 
John Kentfield 
Judge F. H. Kerrigan 
P.N. Lilienthal 
William P. Lawlor 
Otto Lang 
Franklin K. Lane 
Reuben H. Lloyd 
Harry Larkin 

Percy V. Long 
Albert W. Lehrke 



Andrew C. Lawson 

Charles J. Lindgren 

N. B. Livermore 

E J. Molera 

Dr. Greorge H. Martin 

James McNab 

Professor Eiwood Mead 

Henry H. Meyers 

Frank P. Meding 

Byron Mauzy 

C. F. McCarthy 

Louis Mooser 

Marsden Manson 

John D. McGrilvray Sr. 

Charles D. Marx 

H. Meyer 

Judge W, W. Morrow 

Gavin McNab 

8. M. Marks 

H. F, Maass 

John D. McGilvray Jr. 

William H. Mills 

A. J. McNicoll 

'jernard Moses 

E. O. McCo-mick 

Bonjainin G. McDougall 

E, J. Morser 
W. H. Metson 
A. H. Muller 
P. Noble 

F. V. Nelson 
H. A. Noble 
James M.. Owens 
J. Leo Park 
James D. Phelan 
P. P. Paschel 
Frank H. Powers 
W. R. Pentz 



Paul W. Prutzman 
Governor Geo. C. Pardee 
Dr. Kaspar Pichel 

E. (3. Prather 
John S. Partridge 
James W. Heid 

Dr. Adolph G. Rosenthal 
Joseph Rosenberg 

F. Reuther 
Henry Root 
P. C. Rossi 
George Renner 
W. ('. Ralston 

Dr. Theodore Rethers 
John W. Roberts 
W. J. Raubinger Jr. 
W. W. Sanderson 
Felix Santallier 
W. B. Storey Jr. 
Professor > rank Soule 
Paul iScholz 
Val Schmidt 

E. T. Schild 
George F. Schild 

F. P. Stone 
A. Sbarboro 

Dr. Emil Steltzner 
Edward J. Smith 
L. 8. Sherman 
J. C. H. Stut 
J. C. Sala 
George Stone 
F. G, Sanborn 
Frank J. Symmes 
John T. Scott 
James N. Smith 
A. W. Scott 
L. A. Steiger 



Henry A. Schulze 
Dr. M. Solomon 
Frank D. Short 
Frank Morton Todd 
J. B. Toplitz 
Lawrenc;' Thompson 
Robert Tibbitts 
Arthur G. Towne 
Charles F. Thierbach 
R. L. Toplitz 
Carl C Thomas 
L. H. Taylor 
Carl Uhlig 
E. J. Vogel 
Dr. Victor G. Vecki 
C. M. Volkman 
George Volz 
H. Vischer 
W. M. Weil 
Arthur H. Williams 
George W- Wittmau 
Dr. John M. Williamson 
A. A. Watkins 
William R. Wheeler 
J. H. Wallace 
Gustav Wormser 
W. J. Watson 
John C. Wilson 
Frank V. Wright 
Robert Wienecke 
Thomas S. Williams 
S. I- Wormser 
Dr. Conrad Weil 
Henry A. Whitney 
Thomas P. Woodward 
Dr. E. W. Westphal 
Herman Zadig 



£i$t of SpeaKers. 



Chairman . _ _ . James D. Phelan 

The President - - _ Chief Justice Beatty 

Our Isthmian Canal Commissioner 

Marsden Manson 

Response - - - - - C. E. Grunsky 

Science coupled Tvdth the name of the 
Academy of Sciences, and Applied 
Science coupled with the name of 
the Technical Society - - George W. Dickie 

San Francisco . - . Franklin K. Lane 

Civic Progress - - - Frank J. Symmes 

President Merchants' Association 

The Panama Canal - - - W. H. Mills 

The Commerce of the Pacific - - W. J. Dutton 

Chairman Executive Committee, 

Merchants' Exchange 

The German Benevolent Society - Henry Epstein 

Vice-President 

The Native Sons - - Dr. Washington Dodge 

California ----- Frank D. Short 



1 



Complimentary Banquet Given to Carl Ewald Orunsky, by 
the Citizens of San Francisco on the eve of his Departure 
to Assume the Duties of Isthmian Canal Commissioner, 
pursuant to Appointment by the President of the United 
States, Palace Hotel, March 15, 1904. 

[Stenograhically reported by Stephen Potter. ] 



Mr. Phelan — Gentlemen, this very large outpour- 
ing of our fellow citizens here tonight must have some 
significance. A notice was sent out by a com- 
mittee, duly authorized, inviting a number of our citi- 
zens to participate in a banquet to be given in honor 
of our City Engineer, who has been called to higher 
office, and the responses have been so numerous that 
we were obliged to move from one room into another ; 
and now we are assembled, I am sure, with one ac- 
cord and purpose, to do honor in this manner to Mr. 
Grunsky (applause) — for no other reason — and this 
should be impressed upon the minds of all of us, as 
well as upon his mind — than that we believe him 
worthy of the honor. (Applause.) It seems to be 
offered as a spontaneous testimonial, and I don't be- 
lieve that a man, after laboring faithfully and disin- 
terestedly for the welfare of his city and State, could 
receive a testimonial more gratifying than this simple 
gathering of men bound together by a common pur- 
pose to honor one for what he has done and to rejoice 



in his advancement — one who is at once so modest and 
so worthy. (iVpplause.) 

There is another reason which brings us here, sec- 
ondary in importance, but none the less sincere, and 
that is to express also our thanks to the President 
(applause) for having conferred what we may also 
call a great honor upon the city of San Francisco and 
the State of California in selecting one of our citizens 
to represent the Pacific Seaboard on a com- 
mission charged with probably what is the 
most important public work undertaken by any 
nation at any time, a work whose impor- 
tance is not to be measured alone by its cost, 
nor by the engineering difficulties which must be over- 
come, but by the influence which it will have upon the 
trade and the commerce and the destinies and the 
fortunes of the nations of the world. It is an office 
so high that it has been taken out of the realms of 
patronage and reserved exclusively for the great and 
wnse discreation of the President. (Applause.) 

I have said that Mr. Grunsky — and it is always a 
matter of embarrassment to speak in the presence of 
the recipient of one's testimonial — is modest, but it 
has been said by somebody who is very wise that 
''modesty is the chastity of merit;" and there is, I am 
sure, pervading this company to-night, apart from 
these other considerations, a certain gratification that 
a man, modest though he be, for no other reason than 
his merit should have been promoted to this exalted 
position. Every man must feel if interested in the 
fact that that man who day by day does the work 
faithfully and well which is at his hand, though he 



goes on in silence, yet accomplishes much, shall not be 
forgotten ; that if he is faithful in small things he shall 
thereafter be put over great things. That condition once 
established in a country like ours has an enormous 
moral effect upon every man who works, no matter 
in what field, be he engineer or mechanic, in stiffening 
the fibre of industry, in sharpening the tools of 
skill, because let it be known, the guerdon will 
come to the man who deserves or earns it 
without regard to the political and other con- 
siderations that work to advance individuals in life. 
Our President has picked out one of our fellow citi- 
zens without any influences of that kind working for 
his preferment, and I say it is a matter of gratification 
to us all to-night, for which we should be thankful to 
the President, that he who bears the palm merits it. 
(Applause.) 

I am here as toastmaster because I have been 
associated with Mr. Grunsky in some of his work, 
and the committee that met to call you together asked 
me to participate in this capacity, and it was indeed 
a matter of great satisfaction to me to consent, be- 
cause when we went into the business of municipal 
government here under the new charter not long ago, 
Mr. Grunsky, and his good friends, Mr. Manson and 
the late Colonel Mendell, all were enthusiastic about 
doing something for their city, willing to give their 
great professional skill, not for any compensation the 
city might offer them, because their private practice 
was far more remunerative, but they were zealous 
citizens in the cause of good government, and we 
thought we had much money to spend, and we of the 



administration were gratified that we could enlist 
such men in our service. In the preliminary delibera- 
tions looking to the adoption of the charter, Mr. 
Grunsky was there as a delegate to the charter con- 
vention, and gave his valuable advice and assistance, 
always showing in and out of office his interest in the 
citizens' welfare. And then in that very responsible 
position of City Engineer, a position created by the 
charter and filled by the Board of Public Works, he 
had the designing of vast undertakings, the bringing 
of water from the Sierra, itself involving enormous 
study, and he leaves us a perfected plan of the drain- 
age of the city of San Francisco, and of things of 
minor importance, as the establishment of a light 
works, as the building of a street railway, but requir- 
ing engineering skill and knowledge. And all this he 
has given to us, and he goes away bequeathing it to 
us, because it remains a part of the records of the 
city and county; and all through these years during 
which I have known him, and longer periods of time 
probably embrace your experience of Mr. Grunsky, 
he has been the same faithful, capable officer; and I 
say it is gratifying to you, as it is to me, here to-night, 
to know that the President has seen fit to recognize 
his high character and abilities, and raise him to a 
position which is pleasing to him because it is in the 
line of his professional advancement, but which also — 
and this is what interests us more than anything else 
as citizens — enlarges his field of public usefulness. 
(Applause.) And there is where we will get our re- 
turn for the very great deprivation and loss which we 
incur by allowing him to go away from these smaller 



fields of his labor in the service of the city and county 

of San Francisco. But I repeat again, we can not 

complain, because it is so written, although it may 

not always be recorded that he who is faithful in small 

things inevitably will be put over great things. 

(Applause.) 

I have a few messages to read. This is a telegram 

from the Governor, just received. He had expected 

to be here : 

Sacramento, Cal., March IS, 1904. 

James D. Phelan, Grunsky Banquet, Palace Hotel, San 
Francisco: 

Regret exceedingly inability to be present. California 
has just cause for pride that one of her citizens has been 
chosen for so important a position and one requiring so 
great talents as that of Canal Commissioner. In choosing 
Grunsky, whom all California knows, and appreciates, the 
President has secured the services of one whose presence 
will compel respect. The Nation's gain is our loss. Hail 
and farewell, Mr, Commissioner. 

GEORGE C. PARDEE. 

This is a letter from Mayor Schmitz : 

March 8, 1904. 
Hon. J. D. Phelan, Chairman Committee of Arrangements 
of the Testimonial Dinner to C. E. Grunsky, 301 Phelan 
Building, City: 

Dear Sir — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your 
esteemed favor of the 4th instant, extending an invitation to 
me to be present at the testimonial dinner given to Mr. C. 
E. Grunsky at the Palace Hotel on March 15th. I am very 
sorry to say that I find it impossible to be present on that 
occasion, having made a previous engagement. 

Personally, I feel very much pleased at the appointment 
of Mr. Grunsky, as he is a native-born Californian, and will, 
I am sure, by his good work, bring credit to himself and to 
his State. 

Again thanking you, and regretting very much that I find 
it impossible to attend, I remain. 

Yours very truly, 

E. E. SCHMITZ, Mayor. 



Mr. De Young was asked to respond to the senti- 
ment of "The Press," and he sends this letter: 

San Francisco, March 5, 1904. 
Hon. James D. Phelan, Phelan Building, City: 

Dear Sir — I regret very much that I will be unable to 
accept your very kind invitation to the testimonial dinner 
given to Hon. C. E. Grunsky, whose appointment as Panama 
Commissioner has met with such general approval by our 
citizens. 

I feel that he will reflect credit on our State, and that 
the President's selection has been a good one. Wishing, 
through you, him every success, I remain, 

Cordially yours, 

M. H. de YOUNG. 

This is a letter from Mr. Von Geldern, a personal 
friend of Mr. Grunsky, who shares, in common with 
all engineers, a feeling of great pride and satisfaction 
that one of his colleagues has been appointed on the 
Panama Commission. It reads this way: 

March 15, 1904. 
Grunsky — I am very sorry that I am prevented from 
being with you to-night. I trust you will take the will for 
the deed, and although I can not be with you in person I 
shall certainly think of you on this day when the city of 
San Francisco is doing honor to one of her most deserving 
citizens. 

From the bottom of my heart I congratulate you. 

OTTO VON GELDREN. 

Before we sat down to the banquet, I sent this tele- 
gram, as Chairman, to the President: 

The President, Washington, D. C. : 

Three hundred citizens, representing commercial and 
scientific bodies, at a banquet in honor of Isthmian Canal 
Commissioner Grunsky. send greeting to the President, and 
offer their respectful congratulations on the wisdom of his 
choice and thank him for the honor done their city and State. 
(Signed) JAMES D. PHELAN, Chairman. 

10 



I have just received this response: 

White House, Washington, D. C, March 15, 1904. 
Hon. James D. Phelan, Chairman, Palace Hotel, San Fran- 
cisco, Cal.: 

Please convey to assembled guests my hearty greeting 
and best wishes. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 

I have now the honor of calling upon the Chief Jus- 
tice of our State, Judge Beatty, to respond to the senti- 
ment of "The President." (Applause.) 

REMARKS OF HON. WILLIAM H. BEATTY. 

Mr. Chairman, it is not often that the sentiment to 
which I have been asked to respond finds more ap- 
propriate expression than it does here tonight. The 
toast to "The President" is, of course, merely one of 
the modes in which the citizens of our free Republic 
proclaim their loyalty to the land of their birth or 
adoption, and whether we approve or disapprove the 
policy of the President for the time being, we may 
all join heartily in the toast without impeachment of 
our political consistency. But when we consider the 
occasion, and that the very purpose of our assembling 
here is to manifest our hearty approbation of one of 
the most recent acts of our National Executive, we 
may allow our response to this toast to express not 
only our fealty to the Constitution and laws of the 
country, but also our grateful appreciation of an act 
which has awarded to an esteemed fellow townsman 
a place on the Board of Commissioners charged with 
the execution of a work of transcendant importance 
to this country and to the world. 

There is no more important function pertaining to 
the Presidential office than the selection of subordinate 

11 



agents of the Government, and when the President in 
the exercise of this power displays his good judgment 
and good intentions by putting a man of proved worth 
and capacity in a position of great responsibility and 
trust, the act is especially deserving of the commenda- 
tion of those who best know how well public duty has 
been performed, and we, the friends and neighbors 
of Mr. Grunsky, in responding to this toast, may allow 
it to express, over and above its usual significance, 
our sense of personal obligation for so signal a rec- 
ognition of his merits. (Applause.) 

There is another reason suggested by the occasion 
of our meeting why the toast to the President is be- 
coming more and more the appropriate expression of 
American loyalty. The history of every country en- 
joying a popular form of government will show 
that the issues upon which political parties have 
arrayed themselves in opposition have arisen out 
of questions of internal or domestic policy. As 
to such questions the head of the executive 
department, whether it take the form of a min- 
istry representing the majority of the popular 
branch of the Legislature, as in England, or a presi- 
dent chosen by the people, as in the United States, is 
necessarily the representative of a party, and so when- 
ever we are engaged in the discussion of our domestic 
affairs, one portion of his fellow countrymen are 
bound to regard our President in the light of an ad- 
versary. But with respect to questions involving our 
relations with the rest of the world there is less room 
for differences of opinion among ourselves and greater 
necessity for supporting the head of the Government 

12 



in whatever attitude it may deliberately assume. The 
result is that, while as to the first class of questions 
the President stands for only a fraction, and possibly 
for a minority of his fellow citizens — as to the latter 
he generally has what is practically a united nation 
at his back — a truth that is well illustrated by the 
popular approval of the enforcement of the Monroe 
Doctrine, whether by Cleveland, the Democrat, or 
McKinley, the Republican President. 

Now it happens that in this country questions of 
domestic policy are becoming relatively less numerous 
and less important in comparison with questions of 
external policy, and our recent territorial expansion 
will, I believe, render this tendency more marked in 
the future than it has been in recent years. The most 
obvious change which existing conditions and prob- 
able future contingencies has wrought in our external 
policy is the determination to provide ourselves with 
a naval force equal in strength to that of some of the 
more formidable maritime powers. In this deter- 
mination our people are practically united, and for a 
number of years past, whether the national admin- 
istration has been Democratic or Republican, the 
popular aspiration for commanding power upon the 
seas has found a zealous exponent in the President. 
And the fact that this policy has been firmly supported 
by the probable candidate of one great party at the 
ensuing election, and zealously advocated by the not 
improbable candidate for the other party, affords good 
ground for hoping that it will not be abandoned. 
(Applause.) 

But turning from this question, in which our atti- 

13 



tude is that of rivalry with other nations, to one which, 
though not wholly disconnected, involves no clash of 
interest between us and the rest of the world, we may 
find a better illustration of the fact that outside of 
our domestic affairs the President of the United States 
represents the entire people. There is no difference of 
opinion as to the necessity of uniting the Atlantic and 
Pacific by a navigable canal across the isthmus which 
connects the two halves of this western continent, and 
not only we, but the whole world, look with eager 
anticipation to the completion of that great and bene- 
ficent work. If in respect to this matter there is any 
difference between us and the people of other lands, it 
is only because we believe, as our President has de- 
clared, that the glory of the achievement should be- 
long to us and to us alone. As in this, sso in respect to 
all questions between us and alien peoples, it is my 
confident hope that our countrymen may continue to 
stand so united, and may ever be so worthily repre- 
sented in the chief executive ofiice that on every occa- 
sion such as this we may join as heartily as we have 
done to-night in the toast to "The President." 
(The company then arose and sang "The Star- 
Spangled Banner" to the accompaniment of the 
orchestra.) 

The Chairman — I will now propose that we drink 
a toast to the guest of the evening, and I will call upon 
Mr. Marsden Manson to respond to the. sentiment of 
"Our Isthmian Canal Commissioner." 

REMARKS OF HON. MARSDEN MANSON. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, a civil engineer is so 



14 



seldom called upon to draw plans and specifications 
for and to construct an after-dinner speech that I hope 
you will pardon a rough attempt at trying to lay the 
foundation for the superstructure of eloquence and 
wit which are to follow on the part of others — an en- 
gineer has only to build the foundation. Then again, 
all that our worthy toastmaster has said of our guest, 
the Commissioner, after he mentioned the President, 
were parts of my speech, so you can credit that to 
what I intended to say, because I have it upon the 
memorandum before me. My heart is full of pride 
and gratification that our President has recognized 
our profession, in that when he has a great canal to 
build he selects an engineer. This is not always done 
in parts of California, and has not always been the 
case. When the Board of Public Works was called 
upon by our worthy Mayor to select some one to look 
after the great and the growing interests of this mu- 
nicipality, upon which interests depend its successful 
future — a water supply and a system of sewerage — 
we selected from among our profession the best man 
we could find, the present Canal Commissioner. (Ap- 
plause.) And it is gratifying to us to find that the 
President of the United States could do no better than 
follow the pace set by the Board of Public Works of 
this city. (Applause.) 

In wishing the Canal Commissioner God speed to 
his work, and wishing him health, we wish health also 
to those who will be with and under him. They go 
to a difficult, a dangerous and a desperately sickly 
country. We wish him health and God speed through 



15 



that work — through the years of toil and of thought 
that he has to follow out for the good of his people. 

There is one great lesson in this work to San Fran- 
cisco. Are we to have only the great honor of hav- 
ing a Commissioner chosen from our midst? Only the 
honor of having a Commissioner chosen from the 
profession whose duty it is to develop the resources 
and forces of nature for man's benefit? Are our com- 
mercial men to permit that it shall only redound to 
our honor? Or is this canal to be used to develop our 
wealth? Is the work which our Commissioner is to 
do to give us any material benefit? Are we going to 
use it? Or are we going to accept as our share of 
the commerce only that portion which is left to us 
after the other cities and the other rival communities 
have taken all they want and leave us what they do 
not want? Or are we to step forward, not only to 
participate in its construction, but in its use; not only 
to develop it as a machine for developing our wealth, 
but developing it at all times for the use of our com- 
mercial interests, for the command of the traffic and 
the trade that is to pass through it? In wishing you 
God speed, Mr. Commissioner, to your work, we 
wish health, honor and happiness to you always. 
(Applause.) 

Mr. Phelan — Our guest, gentlemen. (Cheers and 
applause.) 

REMARKS OF HON. C. E. GRUNSKY. 

Mr. Chairman, Friends and Fellow Citizens, 
words are entirely inadequate to give expression to 
my feelings this evening. The many kind words, con- 

16 



gratulations and good wishes that have come to me 
in the last few days have been perfectly overwhelm- 
ing, and will be a pleasant recollection for me and 
for my descendants for all time to come. 

When I accepted the position of City Engineer, four 
years ago, I had little idea that I should retire from 
the office imder such pleasant circumstances. In re- 
tiring from the office and severing my connection with 
the city government I can only say that I am proud 
to have been one of the first officers under the new 
charter (applause) ; proud to have been the first City 
Engineer called to office by such public-spirited and 
able men as ex-Mayor J. D. Phelan (applause), the 
late Colonel G. H. Mendell (applause), Marsden Man- 
son (applause) and Jeremiah Mahoney (applause). 
I am proud to have had placed in my charge one of 
the sub-departments of the Board of Public Works; 
I am proud of the achievements of the Board of 
Public Works, even though the same has been ad- 
versely criticised and held up to ridicule, knowing 
thoroughly how ably and efficiently their work was 
taken in hand, notwithstanding the many difficulties, 
incident to the organization of a new department, that 
had to be overcome. 

One of the reasons why I was willing to give up 
my private practice four years ago and assume the 
duties of City Engineer was the fact that the charter 
made it the duty of the City Engineer to investigate 
public utilities. He was not alone charged with in- 
vestigating public utilities, planning the same and 
making cost estimates, but he had like duties assigned 



17 



him in the matter of public improvements to be con- 
structed with money raised by bond issue. 

I am proud to have had the opportunity as City 
Engineer to design and report upon the many im- 
provements which are now about to be carried out 
under bond issues. (Applause.) It will always be a 
source of gratification and pleasure to me when these 
improvements have been completed and are being en- 
joyed by the people to know that I may have been, 
in a small degree at least, of service to our people in 
connection therewith. 

In these improvements the first step only has been 
taken. The sentiment of the people is now known ; 
they have declared beyond the possibility of question 
that San Francisco must be improved (applause) ; 
that streets must be put into better condition ; that 
the sewer system must be improved and extended ; 
that the public schools must be made adequate to the 
requirements thereof and a credit to the city ; that a 
new hospital must be erected; that public parks and 
play grounds must be established in various parts of 
the city. These and other improvements now seem 
within reach. If the bond issue be declared legal it 
will be but a few years before many of them will be 
nearing completion, but even then the work of beauti- 
fying San Francisco will have only been commenced. 
The good work must go on in future years, and to the 
im.provements already planned more must be added. 

It has been a matter of great satisfaction to me, as 
already stated, that the iuA'estigation of public utilities 
for this cit}^ has fallen mainly to my lot, and of one of 
these, the public water supply, I wish on this occasion 

18 



to say a word. San Francisco is the only city of its 
size in the United States which does not own its 
waterworks. 

There is no question in my mind that waterworks 
municipally owned would be well managed, would 
enable a reduction of water rates for the same service 
rendered and would enable the city to provide for its 
inhabitants the best and purest of water obtainable 
from any source. 

Half a century is but a short time in the life of a 
city. Looking into the future fifty years, we see in 
place of our present city a magnificent metropolis; 
the upper end of our peninsula from bay to ocean 
densely covered with buildings ; the population in- 
creased to over one million; Oakland, Berkeley and 
Alameda clamoring to become a part of San Fran- 
cisco, if they have not already been made a part 
thereof, and for this city of the future it is now time 
to plan the waterworks, nothing being so essential to 
the health and comfort of the inhabitants as an abun- 
dant supply of pure water. (Applause.) 

In thus looking ahead it has become apparent to 
those who have carefully studied the matter that the 
ultimate source of supply for our water must be in 
the high Sierra Nevada Mountains. The steps that 
have been taken to secure water from these moun- 
tains is known to all and need not be repeated. Legis- 
lation is now pending in Congress which may give to 
San Francisco the source of supply which comes near- 
est to being ideal. Whether the project for municipal 
waterworks based upon such a source must be carried 
out at once as an independent project or whether the 

19 



same must be combined with the present system is 
the question which will, in the near future, confront 
the people of this city; but whatever the source of 
the water, the waterworks should be municipally 
owned, the sooner this is brought about the better 
for the city. Until then the annual trouble and an- 
noyance of fixing the rates to be charged by private 
corporations will continue, and ill feeling will be en- 
gendered between municipal authorities and the officers 
of the water corporation ; and the service can not be 
expected to be such as would be rendered under mu- 
nicipal ownership. 

No private corporation can ever do as well for the 
public, so long as its efforts are continually being dis- 
credited and its income is uncertain, as could be done 
by a competent water department of the municipality. 
Of all questions relating to municipal ownership of 
public utilities, none is of such importance, none so 
urgently pressing as that of the ownership of the 
waterworks. The obstacles which at the present time 
seem to be in the way of securing from the Federal 
authorities the reservoir rights of way in a forest res- 
ervation, as asked for, are probably not as great as 
appear on the surface. The main opposition comes 
apparently from the irrigation districts which are de- 
pendent upon water from the Tuolumne River. These 
districts are not now in a position financially to in- 
crease the flow of water into their canals by means of 
storage in the high mountains. They look forward, 
however, to the time when the increasing areas under 
cultivation, the increasing demand for water which 
will be necessary for irrigation, will make storage in 

20 



the high mountains desirable. These districts at the 
present time look with alarm upon the taking of any 
water from Tuolumne River for the benefit of San 
Francisco. As a matter of fact, however, the water 
to be taken by San Francisco is not water which 
would be of any benefit to the districts, being only a 
small portion of the waste flood waters of the river 
which now flow unused to the sea. 

San Francisco would then be depriving the districts 
of nothing except merely of the opportunity to store 
water for their own use, when the time for such stor- 
age shall have come, in those two particular reservoir 
sites for which San Francisco has made application. 
To these reservoir sites San Francisco has as good a 
right as any person or any other section of the State. 
San Francisco has made the first application for them 
and San Francisco must take every step necessary 
from time to time to protect its rights, and to be al- 
lowed to use these storage sites for the impounding of 
water if such storage be ever permitted in the forest 
reservation. But the flood waters impounded when 
the storage works shall have been completed will for 
many years — from a quarter to half a century — be far 
in excess of the amount actually required to supply 
the needs of San Francisco and its inhabitants. 

There will be a large surplus of water in the reser- 
voirs, and this surplus can be liberated at times when 
it will be of greatest benefit to the lands in San 
Joaquin Valley upon both sides of the Tuolumne River 
requiring irrigation. It is to be anticipated that in 
these irrigated districts the soils will gradually be- 
come saturated with water, and after a number of 

21 



years the water required per acre irrigated will grad- 
ually decrease. At the same time the districts will be 
decreasing their bonded indebtedness and the time 
will come when they will feel financially able to carry 
out storage works of their own ; and then they, like 
San Francisco, will be compelled to apply for the 
privilege of utilizing storage sites in the forest 
reservation. 

When this situation is thoroughly understood by 
the irrigation districts, instead of opposition, San 
Francisco should receive their help. (Applause.) 

The more thoroughly the available sources of water 
supply are investigated the more it will become ap- 
parent that the solution of the water question lies 
along the lines that have been indicated; and that the 
time has come for determining to what extent the 
established waterworks are to enter into the ultimate 
water-supply project. I trust that the day may not be 
far distant when the municipal ownership of water- 
works will be an accomplished fact. (Applause.) 

This gathering to-night is to deal with a water prob- 
lem of an entirely different character. The great ques- 
tion of the evening is the proposed Isthmian Canal. I 
am not yet in a position to talk upon this subject with 
a full understanding of the various problems which 
will confront the Canal Commission. The idea of 
uniting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean at Panama 
has been in the minds of men ever since the first white 
man crossed the isthmus. Examinations and surveys 
were made in the early part of the sixteenth century, 
nearly 400 years ago, and the obstacles to be over- 
come in carrying out this great work have been grad- 

22 



ually removed one by one, until at last the people of 
this great nation are in control, and with the means at 
hand to carry the work to successful completion. (Ap- 
plause.) The difficulties in the way of the canal con- 
struction have, until within recent years, been less of 
a character involving engineering skill than such as 
involve statesmanship of a high order. After all of 
the failures that have been, made in the past a project 
has been reported to the United States by the Com- 
mission whose report is the basis for the acquisition 
of the properties of the French company, and this 
Commission's plan of a canal best represent the work 
as it will probably be carried out. Although the ad- 
vantages of a sea level connection between the oceans 
was recognized, the disadvantages — among others of 
increased time of construction and increased cost of 
such a project — led the Comm.ission to plan the canal 
with a summit level about ninety feet above the ocean. 
The canal is to be made thirty-five feet deep ; it is to 
have a bed width of 150 feet; it will be forty-nine 
miles long from the six-fathom line on the Atlantic 
side to the six-fathom line in the Bay of Panama. The 
maximum depth of cutting where the canal crosses 
the continental divide will be 286 feet. In the con- 
struction of the canal the amount of dredging and 
earthwork will be about 42,000,000 cubic yards. Fifty- 
four million cubic yards of hard and soft rock will 
have to be moved, of which amount about 5,000,000 
cubic yards lie under water. Nearly 4,000,000 cubic 
yards of concrete, and upwards of 65,000,000 pounds 
of iron and steel will, it is estimated, be required for 
the various structures on the line of the canal. 

23 



From Colon on the Atlantic side, the canal will ex- 
tend inland over low ground, closely following Chagres 
River for a distance of seventeen miles. The river is 
there to be closed by a dam and its water surface 
raised, and the lake formed by the dam will be used as 
a canal section for a distance of about fourteen miles. 
The next eight miles will be in the great Culebra cut. 
The remainder of the canal, about ten miles in length, 
will be on low ground adjacent to the Bay of Panama. 

It is estimated that the value of the work already 
done on the canal approximates $40,000,000, and this 
estimate has been made the basis of the proposed pay- 
ment to the French company. The estimated cost of 
completing the canal on the lines indicated by the 
Canal Commission is $144,000,000. It is thought that 
eight to ten years should be required for the com- 
pletion of the work. That this is a work of stupendous 
magnitude becomes apparent when it is compared with 
such other great works as the Suez Canal, opened in 
1869, which, with its length of seventy-two miles, cost 
about $60,000,000, and with the Manchester Canal, 
thirty-five and one-half miles long, which cost about 
$75,000,000. 

The last Canal Commission assumes that the annual 
cost of maintaining and operating the canal will ap- 
proximate $2,000,000. It is thought that upon the 
opening of the canal to traffic, about 5,000,000 tons per 
year will pass through it, and that this amount would 
be doubled within ten years. 

To have been named by the President a member 
of the Commission which is to take charge of the 
construction of this great work, which is not only of na- 

2i 



tional but of international importance, is an honor con- 
ferred not upon m3'^self alone but upon me as a citi- 
zen of San Francisco, as a native of California and 
as a representative of the entire Pacific Coast. (Ap- 
plause.) Of this I shall always be mindful and no 
effort will be spared by me to prove myself worthy of 
the confidence and trust reposed in me. (Applause.) 
I drink to the continued and increasing pros- 
perity of San Francisco, the Queen of the Pacific. 
(Applause.) 

The Chairman : — Gentlem.en, who are the men who 
are most gratified — if I may say most gratified in this 
connection — with the appointment of Mr. Grunsky? 
The}^ are the engineers. The engineers of the city, 
State and Nation feel they have been recognized in 
the person of Mr, Grunsky. And we have engineers in 
San Francisco of exceeding skill and national reputa- 
tion. We have with us to-night a gentleman who has 
brought to our city credit and distinction in construct- 
ing those most delicate and perfect of machines, I may 
call them, the modern battle ships. We have here, 
as representing the Academy of Sciences and the 
Technical Society, the man who as an engineer has 
given to the seas and to the Nation, and to the glory 
of San Francisco, the "Oregon" and the "Olympia." 
In response to the sentiment "Science, coupled with 
the name of the Academy of Sciences, and Applied 
Science, coupled with the name of the Technical So- 
ciety," I call upon George W. Dickie of the Union Iron 
Works. (Applause.) 



25 



REMARKS OF MR. GEORGE W. DICKIE. 

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky and Gentlemen : I 
thought when I undertook to respond to this double 
sentiment that it was quite an easy thing to do, but 
when I got to thinking about it I found that I had 
made a mistake, and in this connection I want to con- 
gratulate my friend Mr. Grunsky on the magnificent 
opportunity he is going to have in the next few years 
of making mistakes. (Laughter.) For the past 
thirty years I have been told twice a week that en- 
gineers were great men for making mistakes. Now, I 
made a mistake at one time. I remember a good many 
years ago when the Technical Society wanted to get 
a paper to amuse them for a night, they sent down to 
me and asked if I would prepare a paper for them, and 
I said I would ; and I sent them in the title of my pa- 
per, which was to be the mistakes that I had made in 
twenty years. I do not know whether Mr. Grunsky 
was then a director or not, but when the directors got 
together they decided that it was an impossibility, that 
no one evening would be sufficient in which to present 
it. (Laughter.) 

I am very much in the same condition to-night as 
Judge Beatty. I wrote what I had to say, and I wrote 
it so that I could say it in ten minutes. I made an 
experiment last night, and I read this thing, having in 
my room a chiffonier for an audience (laughter), and 
I got through with it in ten minutes. Then I laid 
down the paper and I tried to deliver it without. I 
got along splendidly. It was a magnificent address. 
And I got through in half an hour. (Laughter.) That 
is a scientific experiment, and I give it for the benefit 

26 



of my fellow speakers. So I will keep my eye on this 
piece of paper in order that I may finish you off in 
ten minutes, instead of treating you to a kind of tor- 
ture for half an hour. 

The Academy of Sciences and the Technical Society 
belong to the same family, and have the family trait 
of not getting along very well together. (Laughter.) 
The older member of the family, the Academy, is quite 
a dignified character, when compared with its younger 
brother, who, in the estimation of the Academy men, 
is little other than a mechanic. Some time ago, when 
an effort was being made to bring the two into closer 
relationship, an old Academy man asked if they had 
not better take in all the street-car conductors, as they 
were also take-nickel men. (Laughter.) 

Our guest to-night and myself are both active mem- 
bers of these two societies, and we have ever worked 
to get them into closer relationship with each other, 
as the work of the one should always follow close on 
the research of the other. 

The Technical man is ever striving to make an ap- 
plication of the knowledge the Academy has acquired 
in some low, grovelling workshop problem, and by so 
doing brings disgrace upon himself and the contempt 
of the man of pure science. (Laughter.) The great 
work upon which our guest is to expend the knowl- 
edge he has acquired is of such grand proportions and 
of such far-reaching utility to the world at large that 
even our men of pure science will consider it no dis- 
grace that one of their number is to have a prominent 
part in giving it practical form. 

Yet I would like to show you what a different esti- 

27 



mation the world at large places upon purely scientific, 
and practical technical knowledge: 

The world has decreed that the investigations into 
and the manifestations of natural phenomena should 
be divided into two classes, that of the scientific and 
the technical. A simple definition of these two classes 
would be that those investigations that are of no im- 
mediate use are scientific, while those that have an 
immediate application to some great industry or that 
satisfy some immediate-felt want, are technical. 
(Laughter.) I believe that all knowledge that lies 
within the power of man to acquire will some day be 
useful in supphdng some want of his ; but at present 
much scientific knowledge that has been acquired ap- 
pears to have no connection with our present physical 
well-being. (Laughter.) 

Is it not curious that the world should honor those 
men m.ost whose life work has no immediate bearing 
on man's physical comfort, or the extent of his re- 
sources, and has but litle admiration for those whose 
lives are spent in devising means whereby the gen- 
eral burden of humanity is lightened? The world 
places the philosopher in the top row of the Scien- 
tific benches, while the engineer is relegated to the 
lowest form in the Technical class, and he who 
stumbles upon or discovers a new element in some 
of nature's laws, stands infinitely higher in the eyes 
of the world than the engineer whose labor has pro- 
duced machines that have lightened the labors of 
millions of his fellow-men. I do not mention this 
by way of complaint for I believe it may be taken 
as a strong proof of the inherent intellectuality of 

28 



man, yet, when we consider the fact that the greater 
part of mankind labors under the constant and un- 
avoidable necessity of providing itself with daily 
bread and never lose an opportunity to protest against 
the imposition, (laughter) it would seem that one 
who seeks to relieve the burden of toil by the inven- 
tion of labor-saving machines, would gain the last- 
ing gratitude of his fellow-men. Yet I do not know 
that the Technical man deserves any better fate than 
has befallen him. His ambition is of the earth, 
earthy. He deals with things instead of ideas and 
therefore gets his reward from things and not from 
men. His days are passed in close offices or dreary 
workshops. He has no delight in nature except so 
far as she will help him turn his wheels. He con- 
centrates his whole being within some little trade 
circle. From dawn till dark the Technical man lives, 
moves and has his being in cast iron and hammered 
steel, in wood or leather, in calico or woolen cloth, 
in tallow or beef, or whatever other thing he makes 
or vends, and he often carries the nasty things home 
with him to make a technical shop of that sanctuary. 
(Laughter) Tries to make a reputation by dis- 
cussing them at the Technical Society with other 
technical fools like himself, and is sadly disap- 
pointed when the world takes no notice of him. 
And yet the world knows full well that there is but 
one possible source of relief for toil burdened human- 
ity. This lies in the improvement and development 
of the industrial arts, and this is the end and object 
of all technical effort. 

I have often been surprised that so few of the 

29 



general public possess any knowledge of the men to 
whom the honor is due for the bettered condition 
of life we enjoy. The ladies of society are considered 
wanting in culture who have no knowledge of those, 
who, by their writings, add to the means of mental 
pleasures and accomplishments; but can one of them 
in a thousand tell to whom we owe the spinning 
jenny or the power mule? Yet it is because of these 
inventions that they have the time for mental culture. 
If the question be asked in a miscellaneous collection 
of educated men "Who invented the locomotive?" 
it is almost certain that George Ste^phenson would 
be the name given, and doubt would be expressed 
if any one should explain that he only added a little 
to the labor of others in the same field. Yet, 
amongst that same collection of men it would be con- 
sidered a sign of want of education and culture not 
to be acquainted with the works of Kelper, Bacon, 
Newton, Davy, Farraday, Darwin and many others 
who have contributed to the sum of human knowl- 
edge, but whose work, at least at the time it was 
done, had but little promise of material help for a 
world that needed it much. 

The world is not entirely without gratitude, only 
the Technical man is disappointed because he cannot 
buy its admiration by material benefits. A man may 
labor hard and wear his life out in the effort to feed, 
clothe and educate his children, but if he forgets 
that they have hopes and fears, passions and emo- 
tions, when the earth receives him he will be for- 
gotten, while the man who has a soft heart for their 
sorrows, and sings a song to brighten their lives, 

30 



lives long in loving memories, even though he was 
careless about their comfort and though his song- 
singing may have involved them in empty bellies and 
bare backs. 

Where intellectual and moral emotions are pos- 
sible, bodily comforts, difficult as they are to obtain, 
for the majority of mankind, seem small by compari- 
son, at least when they are actually enjoyed. Food 
and money appear the greatest possible blessings to 
the hungry and the poor, but when once the stomach 
and the pocket have been filled, it is difficult to recall 
the cravings of the past, or exhibit the gratitude we 
expected to feel for those who made it possible for 
us to get into so comfortable a condition. Commu- 
nities as a whole are very much like individuals in this 
respect. They soon forget those whose labors bestow 
upon them the power to do with little effort on their 
part, what it took their fathers much time and toil to 
accomplish, while they reverence those who furnish 
them with some new mental pleasure. Who knows any- 
thing about Fairbern, the millwright, and who does not 
know something about Shakespeare, the playwright? 

Outside of engineering circles, James Watt is little 
more than a name, with nothing about it to inspire 
admiration, and if he had not had the great honor and 
good fortune to be a Scotchman (Laughter and Ap- 
plause) and thus become the object of a clannish ad- 
miration, he would be as nearly forgotten now as the 
Welshman, Trevithick, yet every man, woman and 
child of this and the past two generations in the civi- 
lized world, have been the better for his inventions. 

Take a contemporary name with Watts, that of 

31 



Burns, and we find it known and admired wherever 
men's hearts can feel the touch of a brother's. He pro- 
vided nothing new to help widen the scope of intellect- 
ual vision, the things he sang about were in the field 
and in the town, full in the sight of all, and only be- 
came bright from the charm and beauty of his setting, 
yet when touched by his inspiration they became a 
treasured possession of mankind never to be abandoned 
or forgotten, until human nature changes, of which 
there are as yet no signs. 

The difference between the scientific and the tech- 
nical, is, however, not so great as that between the 
poet and the mechanic. The purpose of the man of 
science is to search ou^' the meaning of that great uni- 
verse, of which he himself is a part, while the technical 
man labors to convert what science has discovered, to 
some useful purpose. They are but two links of the 
same chain. Sometimes these links are far apart and 
sometimes close together, but they are always of the 
same material. 

Farraday, laboring to deduce the laws of electro- 
magnetic induction, is very close to Wheatstone or 
Siemens, laboring to produce a practical dynamo ; only 
the one worked at the Royal Institution for the ad- 
vancement of science, while the others labored in the 
workshop. . 

The astronomer computing the orbit of a planet is 
doing the same work as the engineer computing the 
orbit of a centrifugal governor, with only this differ- 
ence, that the astronomer may make a mistake but the 
planet rolls on its orbit just the same; but if the en- 



32 



gineer blunders his whole work may be rejected and 
his engine thrown useless on his hands. (Applause.) 
How would a blundering astronomer feel if, on ac- 
count of his mistake in computing the orbit of a planet, 
the whole planetary S3^stem should be thrown on his 
hands. (Laughter.) 

Regnault's researches into the properties of steam 
are not more important than the experiments of the 
engine builder, who embodies the results in a motor of 
surpassing economy. 

Lord Kelvin is not greater when he is investigating 
the physical condition of the ether than when he is 
quadruplexing an Atlantic cable. Nevertheless the 
world has made up its mind that useful, practical 
knowledge stands on a lower footing than that to 
which no suspicion of utility can attach. (Laughter.) 
It will not consider if there be any difference in the 
intellectual power required to produce the result ; the 
moment it sees a commercial bearing in any discovery 
it puts it and its author at once and forever in a second- 
ary position, and feels at once relieved of all obligation 
to, or recognition of him. His discovery may have 
been the result of long and deep thought, and the 
research of a life-time may have been expended in its 
development, but it is technical and therefore has no 
claim on man's admiration. This is true, but on be- 
half of my technical brethren, I claim that it is not 
right. (Applause.) Undoubtedly mind is above matter 
or force, and life is more than meat, yet there need 
not necessarily be anything debasing about that which 
makes meat more easily obtained for the bulk of 
hungry mankind. If the thing to be biccomplished re- 

33 



quires the application of the highest quality of mind 

for its solution, it is none the less intellectual because 

its accomplishment simplifies the struggle for daily 

bread. 

As a Technical man let me say to our Scientific and 

Philosophical friends that we rejoice in all the honor 

and admiration the world is ready to bestow upon 

you. We would not have you deprived of one ray of 

glory, for you deserve all the world can bestow, and I 

am sure you are ready to join us tonight in hearty 

appreciation of the honor conferred on a California 
Engineer by the President of the United States, in 

placing him on a Commission to carry to completion 

such a stupendous undertaking as the construction of 

a ship canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Here 

the Scientific man and the Technical man must work 

together, and we are proud to know that the man 

chosen for this high position knows the Science as 

well as the Art of Engineering. (Applause and cheers.) 

The Chairman — For the consolation of Mr. Dickie 
and the Technical Society, it may be recalled that 
Burke, in justification of the men of his class, said that 
"a politician was a philosopher in action :" and, by 
parity of reason, we may say that an engineer is an 
astronomer in action ; and in view of the present cir- 
cumstances, it is the duty of the engineer, therefore, 
to improve and amend this planet, correcting it so far 
as the isthmus holds together the two continents, — 
indeed, correcting the work of the Creator. (Laughter 
and applause.) So the engineer's mission after all is 
an exalted one. Mr. Grunsky has been associated with 



34 



civic progress to so large an extent that it will suggest 
the next sentiment. During the next ten years, accord- 
ing to Mr. Grunsky, the canal will be built, and San 
Francisco will have put on her new clothes and will be 
ready, as already proposed by the Merchants' Associa- 
tion, through director R. B. Hale, for a world's fair on 
these shores to celebrate the completion of the Panama 
Canal. (Applause.) In connection, therefore, with 

the sentiment of "Civic Progress" I will call upon the 
President of the Merchants' Association, Mr. Symmes. 

REMARKS OF FRANK J. SYMMES. 

Mr. Chairman, worthy guests, fellow citizens: 
I esteem it a great privilege to be permitted to stand 
for a few moments by the side of the speakers this 
evening to add my tribute of respect to the dis- 
tinguished guest who has been honored by the high 
office which has come to him. I congratulate him up- 
on the great opportunity which is presented to him to 
take a prominent part in this world's great work, a 
work which is destined to change the geographical as 
well as the commercial relations of many of the na- 
tions of the earth, and which has already affected 
some of their political relations, — which is destined to 
make one ship perform the work which is now per- 
formed by two or three, and to save in sailing vessels 
from one to ten thousand miles for the maritime com- 
merce of the world. It is suggested that I should 
speak to you upon civic progress. That is too long, 
and too broad, and too deep a subject to be treated in 
any five or ten minutes address. It would be like at- 
tempting to review the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 



35 



fifteen minutes. But civic progress is one of the most 
important interests in San Francisco. To name it in 
brief, it is good government, and good government is 
that which the Merchants' Association stands for, and 
which all good citizens stand for. Civic progress may 
be rapid and strong, or may be slow and weak ; and if 
San Francisco is to become the great city which we 
know it is to become — for geography has fixed it and 
destiny has declared it — that progress should be rapid 
and strong; and it depends upon the good citizens of 
San Francisco to see that that progress is such. To 
accomplish that we need good men in office. We 
need men who are big enough, and broad enough, and 
who love their country and their city more than they 
do their pockets. We need men who, like our worthy 
guest of the evening, are sufficiently satisfied to devote 
themselves faithfully, earnestly and honestly to the 
work which is before them, regardless of any great 
offices which may come to them afterwards ; and that 
is the way that great offices are secured. Civic pro- 
gress for San Francisco is that which we look forward 
to with the greatest of pride and satisfaction ; and 
when the canal shall be built, and Mr. Hale's beautiful 
dream shall be realized, and we shall have a great ex- 
position here on this coast to celebrate it, we will be 
able to rejoice that good citizens have done their duty, 
and that good officials have done theirs. 

But the canal is the subject which comes nearest to 
our hearts for the night; and whilst we congratulate 
ourselves that one member of the Commission has 
been selected from our state, and our city, we rejoice 
that it has come to a man of the character of Mr. 

36 



Grunsky ; and whilst v/e rejoice at that we realize, as 
he realizes, that there is a great work before him. The 
eyes of the world will be upon him. The action of 
the nation which has taken this first step in progress 
is one which will be to the satisfaction of all, and add 
to the glory of that distinguished and honorable gen- 
tleman who presides over the nation. 

Mr. Grunsky, whilst we congratulate you, we rec- 
ognize that the office which has come to you is due to 
the fact that you have been, as the Chairman has 
said, faithful over little things, and now that you are to 
be made ruler over greater things, we bid you God- 
speed, and give you our blessing whilst you enter 
into the joy of our lord and ruler the President of the 
United States. (Applause.) 

The Chairman — Mr. Symmes has suggested a 
thought, and the sentiment which I am now 
about to propose gives a color of justification 
for its introduction here : that men, not measures, 
are the principal elements in a city's pro- 
gress, as in a nation's progress. Canning, 
in England, many years ago, when there was a cry for 
measures, and not men, said something to this effect : 
Away with the cant of "measures not men ;" that the 
harness and not the horses carry forward the chariot ; 
and if a distinction must be made, men are everything, 
and measures are nothing. And in this assembly, it 
might be well to recall to your minds that the charter, 
in which Mr. Grunsky and Mr. Symmes and all men are 
working for civic progress have been interested, was 
designed to give us the tools or the implements of 



37 



good government, but necessarily of itself could not 
confer good government. The engineer, if he is not 
skilled, will only wreck the machine that is given into 
his hands, and the only consolation is that he may 
himself be injured in the wreck. And so that charter, 
of which we expected so much, has been exposed to 
some criticism. But I may say for the friends of the 
charter that they simply regard it as an instrument 
fixing responsibility and conferring power, and the 
charter of San Francisco will ultimately work out its 
usefulness. I now propose a sentiment which is first 
in your thoughts : "The City of San Francisco," and 
call upon Franklin K. Lane to respond. (Applause.) 

REMARKS OF HON. FRANKLIN K. LANE. 

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky, and gentlemen : Don't 
think for one moment that at this hour of the night, 
and under these circumstances, I am going to talk 
about the charter. The charter speaks for itself — let 
us speak of the canal. France tried to dig a canal 
across the Isthmus of Panama, and failed. And what 
France tried to do, and could not, the United States is 
going to do ; and they have a San Franciscan to do it. 
(Applause.) You heard the Chairman speak of Mr. 
Grunsky's modesty. You saw how modest Mr. 
Grunsky was himself. That, gentlemen, is the result 
of several years experience as an office-holder in the 
City Hall. (Laughter.) I wish to pay my tribute to 
Mr. Grunsky. I worked with him for four years, 
side by side, and seeing him almost daily. The man 
as presented to you tonight is the man we have always 
known, a man of merit, of "simpleness and gentleness 



38 



and honor and clean mirth ;" a man who did his work, 
and did it out of a sense of duty, and out of a sense 
of loyalty to the great public, which oftentimes did not 
appreciate it. I doubt very much, gentlemen, if the 
President of the United States, in appointing Mr. 
Grunsky to office knew what his politics were. I have 
known him for years, and today I don't know whether 
he is a Republican or a Democrat. (Applause.) But 
this thing I do know, that there is something better in 
Grunsky than Republicanism, or Democracy. There 
is good American citizenship, loyalty to America, and 
loyalty to San Francisco. (Applause.) And better 
than that. When the President was out upon this 
coast, he went to Nevada, and there the Democratic 
Governor of that state had the temerity to say of him, 
"There is not gold enough in the United States to buy 
you, Mr. President, and that is the reason that we like 
you ;" and so I can say of Grunsky : he is a man of 
honor, and no matter what temptations may be put to 
that Canal Commission, with its two hundred million 
dollars to expend, Grunsky will always prove that he 
is a man of honor. (Applause.) I listened with de- 
light to what Mr. Dickie said. His was a charming 
paper. A better I have never heard. There is the 
man who does things, as against the man who develops 
theories. We tonight, lawyer and merchant and doctor, 
all of us, Mr. Dickie, bow down before the engineer, 
the man who accomplishes things, the man who makes 
two blades of grass to grow where but one did before, 
the man who joins two oceans, the man who, as the 
Chairman says, boldly changes the surface of earth, 
doing work which the Creator himself forgot to do. 

39 



And we are here tonight, gentlemen, doing a rather 
singular thing for a San Francisco audience. (Laugh- 
ter and applause.) I see you catch the idea. Three 
hundred of us actually boosting a man. (Applause.) 
Why,what could not we accomplish if we all united 
together to boost some man who was not going away. 
(Applause and laughter.) There lies the lesson of 
this banquet to us. That is its meaning. San Fran- 
cisco will be benefited by the Panama Canal. San 
Francisco will be more benefited if the three hundred 
men who are here tonight would unite together and 
say each to himself: I am for San Francisco, first, 
last, and all the time, the man who is a San Franciscan 
is my man, and the interests of San Francisco are my 
interests. (Applause.) 

There is one thing that has appealed to me during 
the talks tonight which perhaps has not appealed to 
most of you. How few men there are in any walk of 
life who are recognized as at the head of their profcvS- 
sion ! What an achievement that is, gentlemen, to be a 
lawyer, or to be a business man, to be a professional 
man of any kind, to be in any trade, and rise up to the 
point where the President of the United States looks 
three thousand miles across a continent, away over the 
prairies and over the peaks of the Rockies, and comes 
down and puts his hand upon one man, and says : 
Sir, you are fitted to be an engineer of the United 
States, capable of doing this work in which other na- 
tions have failed. Your ability is great enough to be 
commended by all. That, I take it, is the greatest 
honor that any man can achieve — greater than any 



40 



political honor that a man can have bestowed upon 
him. (Applause.) 

As the President of the United States, — shrewd, 
practical, as he is, careful as he is in his selection of 
men, — has shown what he thinks of us, let us show to 
him what we think of ourselves. Let us prove our- 
selves worthy of the great chance which he thinks we 
have. San Francisco is to be, gentlemen, what we 
want it to be, and nothing else. San Francisco is today 
the greatest city fifty years old that the world has 
ever seen. San Francisco is today regarded in New 
York as the second city in the United States. 
They skip the intervening cities, and come out 
here, because here is the city of the future. 
We stand, as some one has said, with a nation behind 
us, and the world before us. (Applause.) Now, let 
us from tonight know this, that San Francisco is to be 
what her men make her and her men are large enough 
to have faith in her. 

"For it's East all the way into Mississippi Bay, 

And West to the Golden Gate, 

Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass, 

For men bulk big on the out trail, the long trail, our own 

trail, 
And life runs large on the long trail, the trail that is always 

new. 
And the wildest tales are true." 

San Francisco is to be made, not by Panama 
Canals, though commerce is to come here by reason of 
such canal. San Francisco is to be made, not by hav- 
ing Commissioners upon the Commission that digs 
that canal. But San Francisco is to be made by you, 
and by myself, by the faith that is in us, by the love 
that we have for her, by the belief that she will be 

41 



great, that here beside the western sea is opportunity. 
My friends of San Francisco, rise up, reach out and 
seize those opportunities, make San Francisco what 
she may be, and twelve years hence we shall greet 
Grunsky as he comes back from his completed work in 
some great hotel far out by the Presidio, and as we 
overlook the Pacific Ocean, we may say : This is the 
great San Francisco, the city of your dreams, Mr. 
Grunsky. We have been true to ourselves, while you 
have been away working for us. (Applause and 
cheers.) 

The Chairman — We now come, gentlemen, to the 
great subject of the evening. The eloquent remarks 
of Mr. Lane have naturally led up to it : "San Fran- 
cisco." The chief port of the United States upon the 
Pacific. Fifty years ago William H. Seward saw 
what we see today; at a time when Japan was not 
known, when Russia had not dreamed of penetrating 
the wilds of Siberia to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 
William H. Seward said at that time : 

"Henceforth, European commerce, European poli- 

■am 

tics, European thought, and European activity, al- 
though actually gaining force, and European connec- 
tions, although actually becoming more important, 
will, nevertheless, relatively sink in importance, while 
the Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast 
region beyond, will become the chief theatre of events 
in the world's great hereafter." 

Not the least of those events which are about to 
be realized is the construction of the Panama Canal ; 
and I call upon a gentleman familiar with the subject 



42 



to respond to that sentiment, "The Panama Canal," 
Mr. W. H. Mills. (Applause.) 

"the PANx\MA canal" — REMARKS BY MR. W. H. MILLS. 

On this convivial occasion we do honor to two of the 
noblest sentiments of the human mind — friendship and 
gratitude. 

In expressing the gratification and joy we feel in the 
elevation of the distinguished guest of this evening to 
a high position, we are manifesting a spirit of friend- 
ship. The sentiment which prompted this tribute to 
our fellow-citizen, serves another purpose. It indi- 
cates to the President of the United States our appre- 
ciation and gratitude for the honor he has conferred 
upon our municipality and upon our commonwealth.' 

At the outset, in responding to the toast, "The 
Panama Canal," I take occasion to promise fidelity to 
the text which has been given me and brevity and 
directness in the treatment of the questions to which 
it gives rise. 

Convivial occasions like the present are not the most 
auspicious for the consideration of a question which 
so deeply concerns the future welfare of our State, of 
our Country and of the World. And I shall keep in 
view the well formed purpose of avoiding repetition 
of the arguments which have prevailed in bringing 
this nation to the threshold of the consummation of 
this great undertaking. Moreover, I shall seek to, divest 
what I shall say to you of all the formalities of a set 
discourse, but shall indulge myself and earn your 
thanks by employing only plain conversational forms. 

In 1523, now closely approaching four centuries ago. 



43 



De Avila, the Spanish Governor of the Isthmian Prov- 
inces, discovered Lake Nicaraugua, and was driven to 
the Pacific Coast by the hostile attitude of the natives 
of the region, and thus became in possession of the 
geographical knowledge that only a narrow strip of 
land separated what he was pleased to term an inland 
sea from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The sug- 
gestion of an artificial water-way between the Lake 
and Ocean was self-prompting. 

During all these four centuries, students of com- 
mercial geography have fully comprehended the vast 
importance to the commerce of the world of the con- 
struction of an Isthmian canal. More than this, they 
have clearly perceived the great influence such a water- 
way would have upon the distribution of national pow- 
er arising out of the relative commercial supremacy of 
the nations. 

From that date to the present, the construction of 
that water-way has been obstructed, impeded and ac- 
tually prevented by national jealousies, by the inertia 
of conservatism and by the greed and selfishness of 
those whose interests were in the maintenance of ex- 
isting conditions. 

At last all the forces of opposition have been over- 
come; at last a great nation has decreed that, com- 
mercially speaking, a new ocean shall come into being; 
at last, it has been decreed that the narrow neck of 
land which has forced the channels of commerce to 
employ an unnatural detour of seven thousand miles 
in east and west passage, shall no longer stand as a 
barrier across the path of civilization. And now, after 
nearly four hundred years from the birth of the idea, 

4i 



we assemble around this banquet board, in the chief 
metropoHs of the Pacific empire to congratulate the 
honored guest of this evening that all obstructions 
have been removed, all opposition overcome, and that 
he and his associates may now enter upon the con- 
summation of this great enterprise. 

In this instance, the centuries of delay pay just trib- 
ute to the magnitude of the undertaking. And now 
that hope is to be rewarded for patient waiting, now 
that prophecy is to undergo the test of fulfillment, 
even unfaltering faith cannot wholly forego the ques- 
tion, "What is to be the result?" 

To indulge in prediction at the present time would 
be but to repeat the argument which has prevailed in 
the determination of this nation to construct this water- 
way. All reasoning from existing condition to future 
results must undergo many modifications in reaching 
just conclusion. The unexpected is the only certainty 
the future holds in store for all human enterprise. 
We seek to penetrate the future by following the trend 
of existing forces, but these forces are not immutable ; 
they bring into being other forces, the deflecting in- 
fluence of which cannot be estimated. 

But there are elements of certainty attending the 
construction of the Panama Canal, rising by contem- 
plation even to the dignity of infallibility. They may 
be called into view by negative and affirmative gener- 
alizations. 

First, of the negative generalizations : It cannot 
be possible that the emancipation of ocean commerce 
from the slavery of seven thousand miles of useless 



45 



sea transportation can be other than good to man- 
kind. 

Every object of commerce is enhanced in value by 
reducing the cost of its movement to final market. 

It cannot be otherwise than that the operation of the 
Panama Canal will reduce the cost of the movement 
of the com.merce of the world. 

If the construction of this water-way can, by any 
possibility, work a hardship to any portion of the 
world, it will be because the portion mjured seeks to 
perpetuate the advantages it enjoys at the expense of 
the highest good of mankind. 

It cannot be otherwise than that the construction of 
the Panamia Canal is in the interest of mankind at 
large. And it is a well grounded opinion interwoven 
with all the opinions of my mind that whatever is best 
for humanity as a whole is best for every separate 
portion of the human family. 

The afnrmative generalizations have far reaching 
significence. All nations will be interested in its com- 
pletion because it will draw them into closer relation, 
mxinimizing occasion for war hj augmenting the value 
and blessing of peace. 

All industry of all countries will partake of its bless- 
ing because commerce is the hand-maiden of industry" 
and lies at the very basis of its prosperity. 

It will expand the commerce of the Pacific Ocean 
as by the touch of magic by merging the tragic stage 
of the world's commerce on the Atlantic with the iso- 
lation of the Pacific. 

It will contribute to the awakening of the vast popu- 
lation of the Orient by causing the spirit of modern 

46 



progress to move upon that dead sea of arrested de- 
velopment. 

To our nation, it will be a guarantee of commercial 
primacy in the commerce of the Pacific Ocean. 

When we acquired possessions in the Orient and 
assumed sovereignty over eight millions of people, we 
became a factor in all meaningful movements among 
the nations of the Orient. With the acquisition of 
Oriental territory we assumed higher duties to our- 
selves and broadened responsibilities to the world. 
The acceptance of this new relation with the Orient 
made the construction of the Panama Canal a national 
necessity. 

Coming nearer home, the Panama Canal will give 
to the states of the Pacific Coast a closer commercial 
intim.acy with Europe.and to the people of the Atlantic 
Coast a better commercial relation with the Orient. 

Whether carried by land or by sea, the Panama 
Canal will reduce the cost of interstate transportation 
and thus identify the common interests of the east- 
ern and western portions of our country and weld them 
into closer commercial relationship. 

It will turn the face of industry from the interior 
of our country to the eastward and v/estward oceans 
which wash its shores. 

It will increase the military and naval power of our 
nation without increasing the magnitude of our mili- 
tary and naval establishments, and by thus augment- 
ing our power, promote our influence in the councils 
of the nations. 

In all these blessings to the world and to the nation, 
we will be full and free partakers. 

4:7 



To our own commonwealth, it will confer the bless- 
ing of reducing the cost to us of all our imports and 
increasing the value of all our exports, by enforcing 
cheap rates of transportation for both. 

It will make the free highways of the ocean con- 
trolling factors in the commercial and industrial de- 
velopment of our state. 

It will make San Francisco a port of cheap ton- 
nage, and consequently a port of distribution. These 
two factors lie at the very basis of all commercial 
greatness. 

In all history, the material progress of mankind has 
depended upon the science of engineering. The en- 
gineer has been the pioneer of civilization in all ages. 
To his genius and knowledge we owe all the victories 
we have achieved over time and space. The iron ways 
of overland commerce, which have conquered moun- 
tain barriers ; the steamship, which plies across wide 
oceans "without missing one beat of its iron heart from 
shore to shore;" the discovery and transmission of 
electrical power, with all other mastery of physical 
forces, are due to the civil engineer. The summit of 
engineering triumph will have been reached in history 
with the completion of the Panama Canal. No other 
undertaking is comparable with it in the magnitude 
of the difficulties to be overcome, or fraught with 
greater blessing to mankind than the objects to be ob- 
tained by its construction. 

Such is the nobility of the great office to which our 
friend, the honored guest of this occasion, has been 
called; and such the broad philanthropy of the great 



d8 



work in whose construction he is to bear an honored 
share. 

I felicitate him and ourselves that he has received 
his appointment at the hands of a president to whose 
patriotism, continuity of purpose and executive force, 
the Panama Canal, when completed, will be an im- 
perishable monument. (Applause.) 

The Chairman — Before we leave this theme, I de- 
sire to inform the company that we have with us the 
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Mer- 
chant's Exchange. They are the people who are di- 
rectly interested in the commerce of the Pacific, and 
the President of the United States who has so elo- 
quently preached against race suicide, must feel an 
especial gratification in announcing the wedding of the 
Atlantic and the Pacific (laughter), and the progeny 
of that union will be more ships, and more sails, and 
more commerce upon the sea; and I ask Mr. Button 
to respond to that sentiment. 

REMARKS OF WILLIAM J. DUTTON. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen : Commerce is rather 
a dry subject to which to respond. You might expect 
I would bring you a table of statistics showing the 
commercial growth of our community; and, indeed, 
it would have been easy to have done so; but I feel 
that on an occasion of this kind such matter is out of 
place, and anyone wishing to avail himself of oppor- 
tunity to discover that kind of information can get it 
once a year from all the papers. Had I turned to an 
encyclopaedia before coming here for a definition of 
commerce, I would probably have found its two prime 



49 



factors were exports and imports. Exports make 
your money, and imports take your money. 

Away back in the time of mythology^ we read that 
one Jason started Avith a band of followers in a little 
ship, the Argo, to secure and bring home with him a 
golden fleece from a ram which had been sacrificed to 
Jove, and its fleece hung in a grove sacred to Mars, 
the god of war, in a far-ofif country called Colchis. 
He, after passing through wonderful experiences, re- 
turned with the pelt. That, I suppose, is the first case 
of importation on record, and that wool then should 
stand as the original import. 

Something near three score years ago there was a 
difference of opinion between Mexico and the United 
States. They resorted to the arbitrament of arms, 
with the result that Alta California came into the pos- 
session of the United States. At about the same time 
that the news of this acquisition was borne through 
the world another piece of news also reached keenly 
attentive ears. A golden fleece had been discovered 
hanging also in that sacrifice to Mars which Mexico 
had made. Up in one of our gullies a golden nugget 
had been found, and at once from all over the world 
another band of argonauts hastened to this unknown 
land, — this far-off country, through mountains and 
valleys and by sea, and they scattered over its fair face. 
They diverted the waters of its streams to sift its sands 
for gold. They marred the fair bosom of its valleys 
with placer mining. They bored into its mountains 
with tunnels. And in all these directions w^ere re- 
warded with gold — gold. The necessities of this army 
called for the traders down at the bay by the Golden 

50 



Gate, where they had entered upon this land of 
promise. These traders furnished the enterprise, the 
ships abandoned at wharf and in stream by these gold 
hunters furnished the means, and "old ocean's waste" 
furnished the highway, and commerce sprang full- 
fledged on the Pacific Ocean, and with San Francisco 
as its ultimate point. 

But this character of commerce was the commerce 
of import which takes your money. California was pro- 
ducing nothing. Her men were delving in the mines, 
obtaining their gold, and spending it for the neces- 
saries and luxuries of life. Some of these miners 
raised on farms at the East, noting our deep alluvial 
soil, and noting our fertile valleys, sent for their fam- 
ilies, built their homes, and soon there were very dif- 
ferent cradles rocking in those homes from what the 
tired miners had brought to the side of the stream and 
the sluice boxes. A community was growing up here. 
California bared her fair bosom to the plow, and from 
its rent and furrowed surface there sprang a second 
golden fleece which gave back the sheen of the sun- 
shine with the glint from the bending heads of the 
yellow grain. 

This golden fleece provided the other factor of com- 
merce. It gave us exports. These exports furnished 
the money abroad which paid for the luxuries and 
necessities which were brought to our shores. The 
gold drawn from our hillsides and our valleys and our 
streams remained here to be spent in beautifying our 
land, in building up our cities, in providing all the 
surroundings of a permanent State. This golden har- 
vest, this second golden fleece, outstripped the first in 

61. 



value, and far more than outstripped it in its benefits, 
for they were many. 

First, as I have stated, it provided the payment for 
our imports. Next, by the multitude of vessels which 
came here seeking- an outward freight we were fur 
nished with our imports at a much lower price, for, 
with an outward freight at hand, they sought oppor- 
tunity to take freight in them. The price of freight 
reduced, the amount of merchandise coming here in- 
creased through the activity of competition. Prices 
were reduced. Our people were able to buy their 
goods cheaper. San Francisco became the distribut- 
ing point for the coast, from Mexico on the south, to 
British Columbia on the north, from the Rocky Moun- 
tains to the sea. And that would never have been ac- 
complished by our gold from our hills. It was our 
gold from our valleys which furnished that. It stim- 
ulated the inventive genius of the American people in 
naval architecture ; and the result of their activity, and 
their energy, and their ability, was shown in such 
ships as the "Andrew Jackson," Flying Cloud," and 
our "Young America." The California clippers, which 
represent the finest naval architectural results in the 
way of sailing vessels that have ever been ac- 
complished throughout the world, brought America 
to the front as the mistress of the seas. We lost that 
position during our war of the rebellion, through our 
vessels going to foreign flags, but later, through the 
enterprise of our shipbuilders, our members of the 
Technical Society, if you will, we furnished the world 
with a fleet of vessels which has not been surpassed, 
nor equalled, by any of the foreign countries, while 

52 



the matchless "Oregon" and Admiral Dewey's flag- 
ship the "Olympia" stand at the head of naval war 
vessels, and place our country and our California ship- 
builders at the very head of their profession. (Ap- 
plause.) 

Presently our position of the arbiter of commerce 
for this coast was seriously injured by the completion 
of the various railroads, which took from us our trib- 
utary country, and we turned again to mother earth, 
and again a golden fleece, — a third golden fleece, was 
given to us as a reward for our enterprise. Our pop- 
ulation, coming from all over the world, possessed 
the knowledge and adaptability of all nations, and 
we were able to apply the knowledge gained in all the 
older countries to the development of our resources 
here. Our valleys, which formerly were given over to 
the yellow grain, were planted in fruit and vines. Our 
hillsides blossomed, and in spring the fair face of our 
country smiled with our cherries and our berries. In 
summer our hillsides rejoiced in a wealth of luscious 
and ripening fruit. In the autumn the face of the 
country blushed with the turning leaves of the vine 
and the ripening grapes. And in winter it laughed 
aloud at the sprinkling rain, with its round-faced or- 
anges. While throughout the year an ever-increasing 
and never-ending crop of tourists was raised here to 
pay golden tribute to our golden land and buy climate 
by the front foot. (Applause.) 

Now, this represents the condition of our country 
up to the present time. Our commerce has kept pace 
with our growth. The seas are dotted with the white 
sails of the ships. The coast line is streaked with the 

53 



smoke of the steamers plying up and down. We have 
developed a trade with the Orient, which requires the 
largest of carriers. Fifty years ago some scientist 
built a great ship — the Great Eastern — built it 
rather to show what could be done in the way of naval 
architecture in grandeur and size rather than utility, 
for she was too big, at that time they said, for profit- 
able use. Today the Pacific is being sailed by vessels 
which are larger than she, and there are vessels build- 
ing to meet the increasing wants of our trade with the 
Orient in which the "Great Eastern" could be loaded 
into their gaping holds, and yet lots of room be left for 
cargo. Our imports were for a long time larger than 
our exports. As late as 1899 that condition existed in 
San Francisco here. I find that in 1899 we had but 
thirty-nine millions of exports against forty-five and a 
half millions of imports, but from year to year in the 
past five years our exports have increased and our im- 
ports diminished, until at the close of 1903 our $38,- 
900,000 of exports had increased to $51,500,- 
000, our imports from $45,600,000 had gone down to 
$36, 500,000, and there was a margin of millions to our 
credit in the money-making side of commerce against 
the money-spending side, (Applause.) 

Another matter, gentlemen, which I think it is but 
fair to mention : San Francisco is big enough not to 
decry any of our fellow cities on the coast here. We 
like to see them grow. They will all add to the might 
and glory of our commercial prestige. But we have 
heard a good deal about the exports to the Philippines 
from Puget Sound and San Francisco. I will only state 
what, perhaps, is not very generally known, that these 

54 



figures which are reported are made from the mer- 
chandise which passed through the Custom House. All 
the merchandise which goes to the Philippines on 
the United States transports passes directly out of 
port, and does not pass through the Custom House. 
All the merchandise which is sent over on chartered 
vessels passes through the Custom House. Practically 
all the United States transports go across to the Phil- 
ippines from San Francisco. That does not appear 
to our credit as an exporter. It does not appear 
in the Custom House figures. And yet it 
is all the merchandise handled by San Franciscans, 
bought from San Franciscans, shipped by San Fran- 
ciscans on transports and sent across to the Philippines. 
I throw out this piece of information simply as infor- 
mation in order that we may understand that we are 
not losing all our trade, and we are not 
going to the "demnition bow wows" because the 
reports of the Custom House don't indicate that we are 
rolling ahead in figures that run many times beyond 
all our fellows on the coast, whom, as I say, we want 
to encourage to grow. 

And now the Isthmus of Panama, which was so hap- 
pily expressed by Mr. Dickie as the "attenuated waist 
which connects North and South America," is to be 
pierced by a water channel which will unite the At- 
lantic and Pacific. Those of you who have, as I have, 
had the pleasure of crossing that Isthmus and noting 
the abundant machinery, the locomotives strung in 
long strings on unused rails, rusting, rotting, would 
perhaps think that the "attenuated waist" might have 
been spelled in another way, and that it was not 

55 

L. 0/ <3* 



very attenuated either. (Applause.) When the 
United States gets to paying the bills, and when our 
San Francisco Engineer gets to passing upon them, 
there will be more work done for less money. (Ap- 
plause.) And then we will look for a future San 
Francisco and a future commerce against which the 
present condition will be merely a beginning, — merely 
an exponent to indicate the growth to which the com- 
merce of this Pacific Ocean will reach, and surely a 
great part of it must come through the Golden Gate, 
and across our golden state ; and when that comes, and 
when every one of the trickling strearns which run 
down the western slope of the Sierras for a thousand 
miles, pursuing their courses to the ocean, will on 
every hundred feet of their descent be turning wheels 
which will be running machinery that will be manu- 
facturing for the community, then we will be able to 
show the world what commerce is, backed by enter- 
prise and manufacture. (Applause.) 

The Chairman — Gentlemen, our guest this evening 
is a man of many resources. I feel that we are suffer- 
ing from Panama fever, and it would be gratifying to 
you to know tonight that Mr. Grunsky is President of 
the German Benevolent Society, and the evening 
would be incomplete, in fact we would all go home 
sick, unless we called upon Mr. Epstein to say a word 
on behalf of that worthy organization over which Mr. 
Grunsky presides. 

REMARKS OF MR. EPSTEIN. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I am indeed proud 
to be able to respond to the sentiment "The German 

56 



General Benevolent Society/' an organization which 
most of you know has but recently passed the half- 
century mark. Our usefulness is manyfold. Not only 
do we support the needy, whether they be members 
or otherwise, give counsel and advice when asked for, 
and obtain positions for newcomers, we also maintain 
one of the largest hospitals on this Coast for the use 
of our members, free if so demanded, and at a low cost 
to such others who wish to put them&elves under our 
care. Like most kindred institutions, we have passed 
through many vicissitudes and children's diseases ; we 
have weathered them all, and I am happy to say that 
we to-day stand on a firm financial footing and count 
upward of 4,000 members and patrons, the largest 
number of any German organization of its kind, I 
think, on this Coast or in the United States. 

A little over twenty-five years ago, we lost the first 
hospital built by conflagration. It was not long be- 
fore it was replaced by another, on a new and larger 
site, and it is now contemplated, plans for which are 
nearly ready, to construct a new building which will 
be an ornament to the city and a proud monument to 
the enterprise and patriotism of our German popula- 
tion. We have a tract of over seven acres of ground, 
and it is universally admitted to be an ideal spot for 
a hospital. In evidence of how wise the committee 
was who selected the site, I beg to mention that an 
old resident only the other day stated, in speaking of 
that site, that in days long gone, this spot was known 
as ''Bird's Rest." The small feathered pioneers of 
Yerba Buena sought that place for refuge against 
wind and fog. 

57 



When invited by our worthy Chairman to reply to 
this sentiment, he suggested in a P. S. to make short 
responses on account of the number of speakers on 
the program. I agreed, and want to be as good as my 
promise. However, I have to crave your indulgence 
for a few moments and also ask pardon for a possible 
digression from the theme allotted me. We all re- 
gret to lose our worthy guest, although perhaps tem- 
porary only, but there is no one here who will miss 
him more than your humble servant, having worked 
beside him for the past two or three years, and par- 
ticularly of late in connection with the planning of our 
new hospital. I only hope, in behalf of our associa- 
tion, that the one who will have to represent him dur- 
ing his absence will not prove inadequate to the task. 

During our existence of over fifty years we natu- 
rally have had a great many leaders, and to use the 
Irishman's phrase about the Kentucky beverage, "that 
it is all good, only some is better," I might say "all 
our Presidents were good, only some were better." 
However, Mr. Grunsky has created a class of his own. 
It is the first instance in the history of our society that 
a Native Son has wielded the gavel at our delibera- 
tions, and though native born, he thoroughly masters 
the German language, which he has often evidenced 
by talking to us like a "Dutch uncle." 

We all appreciate the honor thus bestowed upon 
our friend by the President. We appreciate it in his 
behalf, but let us admit a little selfishness on our part 
at the thought that the lot has fallen to a Californian, 
and yet no better selection could have been made, no 
matter from what quarter, combining as he does the 

58 



many good qualities necessary for a position of that 
kind. As to his profession of civil engineer, he cer- 
tainly ranks second to none, and does it not look a 
little prophetic that at his christening already he re- 
ceived the prefix C. E. ? 

And now I ask you gentlemen of the German Benev- 
olent Society, as well as all of you here present, to 
raise your glasses and voices and give three cheers 
in the well-known Teutonic way, ''Er lebe hoch, Er 
lebe hoch, er lebe hoch, etc., drei Mai hoch !" 

The Chairman — Proud as our German-American 
citizens are of Mr. Grunsky, because of his descent, 
the Native Sons of California are equally proud be- 
cause of his navitity, and we must now have that senti- 
ment, ''The Native Sons," and I call upon one who is 
worthy to respond to the sentiment. Dr. Washington 
Dodge, a member of the same parlor of the order to 
which Mr. Grunsky belongs. (Applause.) 

REMARKS OF HON. WASHINGTON DODGE. 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens : Fortunately, 
considering the lateness of the hour and my position 
on the program, I did not come here intending to make 
any long, drawn-out remarks. Indeed, were one so 
disposed it would be a difficult task, considering all 
that has been so well and so interestingly said. I am 
here, however, representing an organization of 15,000 
native-born citizens of this State, to testify to the 
high regard and esteem in which we hold our brother 
member, Mr. Grunsky. I am here to express the 
pleasure which his appointment has given to us. We 
feel highly honored that for this great office there has 

59 



been chosen one of us, a native son of this State of 
C?,lifornia. (Applause.) Knowing him to be a worthy 
son of his State, and knowing him to be one who will 
never reflect anything but honor upon that high offi- 
cial who has selected him, w^e proudly, in common 
with all citizens of this State, give his services to our 
Nation. 

And now. Brother Grunsky, when, through your 
instrumentality, the Atlantic shall be wedded to the 
Pacific, may you be the best man at the ceremony 
(applause) ; and before the honeymoon is over may 
yovi return to us and to your native State, where you 
may be sure a Avarm welcome awaits you. And now, 
as a last word, God speed you, say the Native Sons, 
and so say the citizens of this city. (Applause.) 

The Chairman — The Governor was expected up to 
the last moment, when he sent his telegram, but we 
have confined our remarks to the city of San Francisco 
and to the Pacific Ocean, and the sentiment of ''Cali- 
fornia," to which the Governor was to respond, has 
not been as yet mentioned. But the Hon. Frank D. 
Short of Fresno is here, and he will bid us good 
night by responding to the sentiment of our State. 
(Applause.) 

REMARKS OF HON. FRANK D. SHORT. 

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Grunsky and Gentlemen : I 
know but little, but I know the time of the night when 
I look at the watch, and I know that it is too late to 
respond to ''California,'' or any other sentiment. I de- 
sire to say, however, a word in farewell to our friend. 
Of course, I know if I concluded to talk through the 

60 



evening, out of respect to my high official position, 
you would stay and listen to me (laughter), because 
if the Governor had been here you could look at him 
and see how a governor would look. I being in his 
place, you can look at me, and see how a governor 
does not look. And if he were here you could listen 
to him and understand how a governor would talk. 
By listening to me, if I did not have any more sense 
than to keep on talking, you would understand how a 
governor did not talk. (Laughter.) But I do say in 
regard to our distinguished friend that he exemplifies 
something we might all take home to ourselves. I 
have had occasion to know him well, to cross-examine 
him some, and to learn his merit. I know that he has 
succeeded because he is an aristocrat; that is to say, 
he belongs to the only real and enduring aristocracy 
in the world, the artstocracy of people who do things 
honestly and well. (Applause.) 

San Francisco is full of brilliant young men who 
are proud of their achievement in getting something 
for nothing, and getting a salary that they do not earn, 
but Mr. Grunsky has not grown that way, and he is 
a living illustration, not of the idea that you can get 
something for nothing, but of the doctrine that not 
only is an honest man the noblest work of God, but he 
is the wisest work of the Almighty, because "a fool 
and a rogue are always twin brothers to each other." 

Now, my friends, we wish the gentleman all pros- 
perity. If I could respond to that most inspiring 
toast, "The State of California," if I could say what 
this great and coming and growing commonwealth 
deserves to have said of her to-night, I should be 

61 



pleased and glad to do so; but there are other times 
and other occasions. We say that we hope and be- 
lieve that Mr. Grunsky will confer honor upon this 
the greatest of the American commonwealths. Cali- 
fornia has but little history. Her name and her 
memory are in the breasts of men now living, except 
the story of the padres; for us, and for our time, and' 
our opportunity is for the future. California has little 
history. With us it is only to-day and to-morrow, and 
Mr. Grunsky stands to assist us in declaring a broader 
and a better and a higher to-morrow for this new 
empire on the Pacific sea. (Applause.) 

The Chairman — Mr. Grunsky leaves to-morrow 
morning to assume his new duties, and I suggest we 
drink again to him and bid him God speed. 

(The toast was drunk and three cheers were given 
for the guest of the evening.) 

The Chairman — It is just 12 o'clock, and I bid you 
all good night. 



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